Sunday 24 March 2013

Famous Portrait Photographers Of The Twentieth Century

By Christi Larsen


Not all photographers are able to do portraits well. This very particular field of photography requires a special skill and expertise. Some photographic experts have been able to capture individuals in breathtaking, powerful and especially memorable images, some of them celebrities but not always. These are some famous portrait photographers of the 20th century.

Cecil Beaton is, without a doubt, one of Britain's most famed photographic geniuses. Born in the early 1900s, he received his first camera when he was eleven years old. During the 1920s, he worked as a photographer on the staff of both Vogue and Vanity Fair, having moved to New York from London for better opportunities. It is during this time that he developed his unique style.

In 1965, Cecil Beaton was made Honorary Fellow of the Photographic Society of Great Britain. He was knighted in 1972. In his seventy six years, Beaton's clients included none other than Marilyn Monroe and members of the British royal family, as well as the British prime minister Winston Churchill.

Latvian-born Philippe Halsman left Austria to move to France after an incident that caused the death of his father, which he was then charged for. He left France to go to America when the French invasion took place. One of this photographer's most famous images is that of Albert Einstein, which became TIME magazine's cover, naming Einstein 'Person of the Century'. The same image was found on a United States postage stamp in the mid sixties.

Salvador Dali was also one of Halsman's clients. The photographer and the surrealist painter collaborated together on numerous projects throughout the years. Halsman has also captured some of Hollywood's greatest actresses, such as Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and Marilyn Monroe.

Yousuf Karsh is a photographer who has captured images of some of the world's most influential individuals. Born in Turkey to an Armenian family in late 1908, he is considered to be one of the most accomplished photographers to ever have lived. Sent to Canada by his family to live with his uncle, also a photographer, he then apprenticed with a portrait photographer in the United States, John Garo, for four years.

He rose to international acclaim when he took a portrait of Winston Churchill. That particular image is supposedly the world's most reproduce photographic portrait ever. Karsh also found himself on the twentieth century's 100 most notable individuals. He was the sole Canadian on this list. He has photographed Brigitte Bardot, Mother Teresa, Fidel Castro and Albert Einstein, to name but a few.

Famous portrait photographers become known for their ability to capture the essence or personality of their subject. They are able to convey with just one image an emotion or a thought. For some photographers, an individual does not need to be famous for the image to be iconic. As in the case of Steve McCurry's portrait entitled 'Afghan Girl', all it takes is one special image to catapult a photographer into the realm of immortality in their work.




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